pepperoni, anyone?

I had grand plans to bring pizza to Baraka's home last week, for dinner...and then discovered that (due to mourning week) all the pizza places around town were closed! So I grabbed two large-ish baguettes and a big wheel of cheese (gouda is about all that's affordable here) and headed out to her place -- the plan was to have modified baguette pizzas, along with Baraka's own yummy garden fare.

It was a treat for me to be able to hang out with Baraka! She invited me to stay overnight because her parents were out of town (most Rwandese women live with their parents until they're married....it's not common to see single women living off by themselves here). And when I showed up at her place, Louise was there too! Louise runs the Child Development program here at WR (and does a fantastic job too).

When I showed Baraka my plan, to make baguette pizzas, she was ethusiastic but explained, "We don't have an oven!" The electricity in their home in Gasabo is solar, in fact....isn't that cool? They weren't even trying to be environmentally friendly (I don't think?)...it's just more economical.

At any rate, it is admittedly difficult to make baguette pizzas with no oven. So Louise came up with this idea to cook the pizzas over coals outside. And so sure enough, it worked! Here are Louise and Baraka, pizza-chefs extraordinaire:



Here's a shot of me fanning the coals, to keep them nice and hot:



When the pizzas were done, they were added to Baraka's feast of rice, vegetables, beans, fresh papaya, and an assortment of other yummy things. It was a super fun evening...